Posted on 08/22/2004 8:21:27 PM PDT by Pikamax
Revealed: how 'war hero' Kerry tried to put off Vietnam military duty By Charles Laurence in New York (Filed: 07/03/2004)
Senator John Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate who is trading on his Vietnam war record to campaign against President George W Bush, tried to defer his military service for a year, according to a newly rediscovered article in a Harvard University newspaper.
Senator Kerry on the campaign trail in Iowa He wrote to his local recruitment board seeking permission to spend a further 12 months studying in Paris, after completing his degree course at Yale University in the mid-1960s.
The revelation appears to undercut Sen Kerry's carefully-cultivated image as a man who willingly served his country in a dangerous war - in supposed contrast to President Bush, who served in the Texas National Guard and thus avoided being sent to Vietnam.
The Harvard Crimson newspaper followed a youthful Mr Kerry in Boston as he campaigned for Congress for the first time in 1970. In the course of a lengthy article, "John Kerry: A Navy Dove Runs for Congress", published on February 18, the paper reported: "When he approached his draft board for permission to study for a year in Paris, the draft board refused and Kerry decided to enlist in the Navy."
Samuel Goldhaber, the article's author who is now a cardiologist attached to the Harvard School of Medicine, spent 11 hours trailing Mr Kerry and still remembers that the subject of the Paris deferment came up during long conversations about Vietnam.
"I stand by my story," he told The Telegraph. "It was a long time ago, and I was 19 at the time, so it is hard to remember every detail. But I do know this: at no point did Kerry contact either me or the Crimson to dispute anything I had written."
Sen Kerry's campaign headquarters in Washington refused an opportunity to deny the report. Despite repeated telephone calls from The Telegraph, a spokesman refused to comment. Another Democrat official said merely: "In Vietnam, John Kerry proved his patriotism beyond question. Everyone knows that."
A senior Republican strategist, who asked not to be named, said: "I've not heard this before. This undercuts Kerry's complaints about Bush and it continues to pose questions as to his credibility among ordinary Vietnam veterans."
He said it would fuel concerns over the way Sen Kerry made a name for himself by leading anti-war protests in Washington and Boston in the late 1960s and early 1970s after he had completed his service in the US Navy, even while his former comrades continued to fight and die.
A newly-published biography of Sen Kerry by Douglas Brinkley, A Tour of Duty, makes no mention of the requested deferment or planned year in Paris. At the time, it was still unclear just how long America would remain in Vietnam, and it might have seemed that a year's deferral of service could render enlistment unnecessary.
According to the Democratic Party's version of Sen Kerry's military history, he joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Harvard through eagerness to do his duty, and sailed with the Navy for combat as soon as he graduated in 1966.
Sen Kerry won a gallantry medal for his service as a gunboat captain on the Mekong Delta, and was honorably discharged with three "purple heart" medals after sustaining three wounds. He has consistently presented himself as a leader who argued against the war only after fulfilling his duty in the field. Supporters argue that his war record makes him a more trustworthy leader than President Bush, who served sporadically in the National Guard at home.
"This means that Kerry didn't jump into all that heroic service until he was pushed, and it is a very nice piece of information," said Lucianne Goldberg, a prominent Republican campaigner.
Republican strategists for President Bush were already investigating Sen Kerry's record of three wounds sustained in Vietnam. "We find that he had only one day off sick - with three wounds? What exactly were these wounds?" she asked.
Mr Goldhaber recalled that, during a day spent with Sen Kerry and one assistant during his congressional campaign, he had described his involvement, service and decision to oppose the war in great detail.
"I am not at all surprised that he wants to be president, because he exuded ambition from the word go," said Dr Goldhaber. "At the time, the idea that he tried to persuade the draft board to let him spend a year in Paris was just a detail."
A spokesman for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign declined to comment.
We on FreeRepublic have known about for quite some time.
Republican strategists need to spend more time on here.
Also, Kerry admitted in the Crimson interview that it was not his intention to get into combat in Vietnam. That's why he signed up for swift boat duty after his stint on the USS Gridley. At the time, the swift boats were on coastal patrol--a veritable "China Beach" type of assignment--very little risk of combat.
In the interim, by the time he arrived in Vietnam, the swift boat mission was changed to river patrol, an inherently more dangerous mission prone to being shot at. Not what John Fraud had intended.
"Send me--after I spend a year in gay Paris!" Rich.
What happened to Clinton's sappy line "John Kerry said 'Send Me'" at the DNC?
Could it be that our "New Soldier" loathes the military just as much as Slick Willie?
Kerry was a fake from the get go. Is/was he REALLY so stupid as to think that he could make his pitiful four months, three bandaid Purple Hearts, and two questionably earned medals the centerpiece of his campaign and then expect people to NOT examine it carefully or was his strategy to put it here and send the attack dogs after anyone who looked too closely at it?
Kerry titles his book "Tour of Duty" for his service in Vietnam. He also claims that he had TWO tours of duty in Vietnam (because of his time on the USS Gridley)
Kerry twists the truth so much, you have to watch EVERY WORD HE SAYS. He will lie to you and weave a story (lie) so subtly that you are unaware that he is taking you down the prim-rosed path.
Here is the truth as compared to Kerry's lies. KERRY NEVER EVEN SERVED ONE TOUR IN VIETNAM. HE IS A LIER.
Yes he was in Vietnam (for 4 months) and yes he was on the deep water coast of Vietnam on the USS Gridley (for 5 weeks)but he did not serve a tour in Vietnam.
A Tour in the Nam was 12 months, one year, 365 days, one circle around the sun. Guys would count down the days until their time was up. It was a big deal. When you only had a few weeks to go until your year was up, you were "SHORT", going home soon.
This issue is important for this reason. John Kerry knows that he didn't serve a Tour, let alone TWO Tours, yet he brazenly reports that he did, he lies. Kerry lies about almost everything. That's my point. He can not be trusted.
One might argue 'Well, the time that Kerry spent in Nam was HIS tour, so what is the big deal". If that is your argument then Kerry should have named his book "My Time in Nam" or something. Not lie and give the impression that he spent a tour in Nam. AND, there is NO excuse for his claim for TWO TOURS in Nam, my God. What a lier.
Kerry's lies smack of Michael Mooreism.
As far as Unfit for Command is concerned, I have read it. The Swifties could give a crap less if John Kerry got medals, their issue is the same as what I explained above (and the fact that Kerry smeared their good name with lies) and that is that Kerry can not be trusted. He is unfit for command.
Is this almost a feeding frenzy? About time someone started reporting this stuff. Thanks for the post.
Right indeed. He would be more of a national nightmare than even Clinton was. And that's saying somthing!
Now will the major media in the US pick up on this part of Kerry's "volunteering" for military service? Kicking and screaming maybe...
DUmmies have been pushing the "Kerry served two tours" thing alot lately. Laughable.
As for Brinkley, he's a disgrace.
When Kerry volunteered for the Swift Boats, they were simply patrolling the bays and coast and were NOT coming under fire. When he found out that the mission had changed and he could actually get hurt, he used every boo-boo and owie to apply for a PH to get out of Vitnam as quickly as possible.
LOL!
ping for later reading
P.S. However, I would not tell any person who had REALLY earned their PH with a wound serious enough to be sent home early that they did not s[end a tour in Vietnam, even if that wound occurred in their first week in country.
ping for later reading
So if Kerry served two tours in four months, my hubby seerved six tours in a year.
BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? WOOF----WOOF----WOOF-WOOF.
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